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Could it be the Saville comment that finally brings down Boris? – politicalbetting.com
Could it be the Saville comment that finally brings down Boris? – politicalbetting.com
Today scenes in the Westminster area when police had to rescue Starmer from anti-lockdown protestors is the latest development in the Saville slur sage which began with Johnson at PMQs at the end of January. For the driving force of the crowd’s apparent anger was an attack on Starmer over the Saville case when he was DPP. This was even though this has been widely rebuked.
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Jim hasn't fixed it for Boris.
https://twitter.com/tompeck/status/1490798705376649223
https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1490773801096953862
Would rather be 54th though.
We need to be rid of Britain Trump.
Anyone who enables him will be spoken by history with all the warmth of the Vichy collaborators.
And while a defence may be had that it was a crowd of loons and one cannot be responsible for their lunacy, it's just a bad bad look for them to be hurling threats and insults which have direct connectivity to Boris's attempt at being clever by linking Keir with Saville.
I just don't see how he apologises now though - he already is the type to see any withdrawal as being weak, and he's double and tripled downed since then, so he'd not even get the benefit of the doubt from his MPs (who he has had defending his remarks) as it'd be even more obvious than usual he didn't mean it.
Johnson, if he had any honour, would apologise in the house. But he won’t.
In response, gov ministers and the PM have condemned the protesters.
https://twitter.com/ionewells/status/1490799800723382273
So I don't think that is the clever point you think it is, unless you think we are not using it because it is dangerous and ineffective.
I don't see what 'they were wrong to undermine a safe and effective vaccine that way'(even if the point is made in an emotive way) has to do with 'It is not being used here at the moment'.
https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1490732152404779008
9 point lead with YouGov, 10 points with Redfield.
Trump on Johnson: 'They call him Britain Trump'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-49090804
The ones who have already called the comments disgraceful in the Conservative MP ranks have already publicly expressed opposition to him.
Do we actually have any polling on the Savile comments and what people think of them? Unless a lot of Conservative MPs seriously think this is hurting them in their constituencies, they will not move against BJ.
Not Douglas Adams, but Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman: from Good Omens.
The End of British Trump getting as messy as end of US Trump. I don’t find any of it amusing, or great chance for opposition parties, I think it all sad and dangerous.
If we no longer have rules to stick to, rules to respect and stick to, are we even a functioning democracy anymore? If we trash respect in and the credibility of our institutions, if we disregard the spirit, the ethos of our democracy, it’s not going to be that easy to get back is it? When politicians set the mob on each other, can this be set back overnight, merely with change of one leader or government with another?
They promised Global Britain. This is more like Ignoble Britain.
Last night, Mercedes auctioned off a tour of their factory at a charity auction.
Christian Horner made the winning bid saying he'd "like to take about 20 people" with him.
The mind games for the 2022 F1 season have started already. 😅 https://twitter.com/WilliamHill/status/1490803808078688256/photo/1
People who knew him well warned us.
Interestingly, the J&J vaccine in the US seems to have had similar issues.
Leicester looked absolutely dismal. Just couldn’t handle a partisan crowd by the looks of things.
Worth a bet on Rodgers going?
What I care about is someone comes in and supports a proper levelling up agenda. That is not going to be Sunak or Truss. It's not going to be Mourdant or Hunt or Tom Tugging or whatever he is called. I doubt it will be Johnson. But at least if the bulk of his Red Wall MPs have him by the balls, there is a chance he is forced into doing something meaningful. I don't really care who is the vehicle for change, just as long as it happens.
Plus, being blunt, a lot of the outrage this evening seems confected. It's well known Starmer supported the Government lockdowns and would probably have gone further. So the fact he got surrounded by a bunch of nutjobs and weirdos campaigning against lockdowns is not exactly surprising. They didn't need BJ to tell them to get in Starmer's face. If you want hate, try walking to the Tory conference in Manchester with a sign saying you are Conservative.
At some point, we will be given the names of the 2 people arrested and we will hear their motivation, as well as their political history.
I might be inclined to wait till then before alleging the "driving force" of the attack was Saville.
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I wonder if that really twists BJ's melon? I hope so.
Whether or not it was the 'driving force' is pretty irrelevant - it may not have been the main factor, but it was a factor, since they mentioned it.
Guto Harri used 2020 meeting with Sir Ed Lister to ask which ministers to “nudge” on behalf of Chinese client, leaked minutes say:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/17577590/boris-new-spin-chief-lobby-huawei/
In fact in the UK is tiny compared to the regular turn out in places like Germany, France nd Australia.
But i don't see that that matters. The man degrades the office with every day he occupies it.
Heck, Jo doesn't seem to stick up for him much and he got a peerage to mend the rift between them.
The fanbois were OK with that when he was winning...
What you're seeing at the moment is the separation between traditional Conservative belief - maintain law and order, respect tradition, try to run the country well, vs. New Populist Conservative. You're right that the former tend not to have any special interest in levelling up. But they do try to avoid stirring up demons. It's the same division that you get on the left between socialists who are earnestly concerned with inequality and foreign aid vs populist Trots who like a good riot.
I think that if your party goes for a majority for New Populist Conservatism there will be a rough ride ahead, with multiple defections.
Whoever advised the PM to use that slur should have been hanged drawn and quartered a week ago. So should Rees Mogg for laughing at it
https://twitter.com/davidlammy/status/1490761739759194117?s=21
While there was the odd mention of paedophile the main complaints appear to have been vax related and not opposing the government, with a bit of Assange thrown in for good measure. I doubt this mob would have given Starmer a peaceful passage even without the Savile remarks.
Nonetheless Johnson’s Savile comment was disgraceful and he should have resigned by now - but in this case suggesting that he caused the near assault on Starmer is a stretch - and his opponents are exploring it for political capital, which is fair enough. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving politician.
Adjacent to the anti vaxxer protest in Parliament Square, there was a very loud protest about medical research on beagles, which seemed to attract approximately the same number of people, though the beagle people were louder.
The people I passed today seemed like a very small, very strange fringe minority.
There is a deficit of on field leadership and a number of players are performing well under their best, notably Soyuncu, Tielemans and Ndidi, currently our senior CB and Central midfielders. The tactics and game plan are turgid, and too complex for the players, who seem quite uncertain of what to do, apart from pass sideways and back.
Liverpool and West Ham this week, so I think it will be a rough week, but Rogers will survive and limp on until May.
https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1490808719239794699
Guto Harri used 2020 meeting with Sir Ed Lister to ask which ministers to “nudge” on behalf of Chinese client, leaked minutes say:
https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1490807058341445633?s=20&t=985NB2vyojYsMAQqgGHu1A
But what if one of them is a Chinese spy though...
How is the relaunch going?
But, the header says "the driving force of the crowd’s apparent anger was an attack on Starmer over the Saville case when he was DPP"
It does matter, because it is usually best to be as truthful as possible. And we will get the names of the two people arrested shortly, (who I expect will be motivated by factors other than Saville).
I never voted for Johnson, and there are many good reasons to get rid of him.
So, we don't need to construct an artificial reason.
Time to strike Rishi. Time to strike.
But I'm struggling to see what that's got to do with anything.
The meat of the issue is:
1. Boris Johnson implemented very strict rules on peoples' activities, that prevented them from seeing friends and family; dying relatives; and going to funerals.
It then turned out that he was having a 'very good time' while the rest of us weren't.
This was bad, but quite survivable.
2. He then lied about it on multiple occasions.
Now, call me old fashioned, but this is where I get upset. The original offence was bad, but the Downing Street team was working incredibly hard, and I'm simply not going to throw my toys out the pram about them having a few drinks in the garden after work.
A simple apology would have sufficed.
But Boris doubled down, and lied.
3. He then attempted to distract from by throwing an accusation - under parliamentary privilege - that appears to be quite... evidence light...
Now, to me this isn't as bad as 2. I don't think it's appropriate. But it's the rough and tumble of parliamentary life.
To me, it's the lying I have an issue with. I expect the same from my leaders as I expect from children: an ability to distinguish truth from falsehood.
Indeed, can there be anything more important to the bond of trust between the governors and the governed? Blair lied, and his reputation never recovered.
Johnson has lied and lied and lied. And now it's time for him to go.
Can you press the like button on it now please
Where you are wrong is in the phrase "But they do to avoid stirring up demons". That's the phrase - and apologies Nick because I respect you a lot - of someone who has a very comfortable position and doesn't want to face the facts that, for many people in this country, life is sh1t. The demons have already been stirred. People like Trump and (to a degree) Johnson are symptoms, not causes. A well-functioning democracy that looks after all sections of society should not have a need of such people. They exist because many people have been f**ked over and they don't know to whom to turn.
PS Yes, you are right the last sentence is a straw man argument, so I shouldn't have put it in.
https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1490808991756210179
...Next.
I am not necessarily a believer in Youtube "radicalises" peopoe simply by the algorithm, but you don't have to look hard to find plenty of people linking lockdown to global elites to great resets and dishonestly using the shifting landscape of the covid pandemic to back up their claims of it been a conspiracy.
Sir Eddie v candid about PM’s views, suggesting he did not want ban but was “caught” between pressure from Tories and US: “This PM is not anti-China and is not Donald Trump.”
Added PM “believes in good relationships with China. He is not coming from a negative place in any way”.
https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1490807768307187718
The wags on twitter reckon that is because he wants a four month round-the-world holiday before he starts back at the PR/lobby company.
Chances are, if Johnson had walked down that street, he would have similarly got attacked, only it would have been that he was taking the p1ss by drinking whilst imposing lockdowns.
The people were / are nutjobs. Trying to say their behaviour was caused by BJ is a stretch.
Worth pointing out that Boris Johnson is pretty sensible compared to Jeremy Corbyn, someone whom many people on here voted for. Corbyn's ideas about Russia spring to mind immediately as being actually dangerous.
The launch that didn't happen today was the NHS recovery plan. That is being painted as Sunak not being willing to cough up, but I think it more that Number 10 thinks the plan far too pessimistic. Johnson wants to be able to point at sunlight uplands, though the reality is rather more a dank and gloomy quagmire.
What needs fixing has no quick cure. In particular a junior workforce that has significantly deskilled, and specialist nurses have left. Getting waiting lists back down will take nearly a decade, much as it did in the New Labour years. At the moment they are still growing, albeit at a slower rate.
That you suggest if it was Boris they'd have mentioned the drinking actually makes that point - because that is the news, they'd use that - because Boris tried to slur Keir, they used that. The method of harrassment was caused by the remarks, at least in part.
They can't be made to go away or apologised for. There is also no sense that Johnson can promise "change". Somebody who has operated in a certain way his whole life can't suddenly adopt a completely new approach. He wouldn't know how, even if he was inclined to try.
What you also fail to mention is the left has played its part. Portraying large swathes of the population as ignorant hillbillies / 'Gammons' who are racist, ignorant thugs, and claiming that they are automatically privileged just because of the colour of their skin is not exactly helping the situation.
Putin: We understand that the conventional power of NATO is more than Russia's. But Russia is the top nuclear power. And there will be no winners in the war (in case of Ukraine in NATO, and will attempt to return Crimea with force)
https://twitter.com/Liveuamap/status/1490810529811767300